WAR AGAINST SPAIN 23!
his aiding the Huguenots in the event of their being oppressed.
A satisfactory formula was at last found by which each country
promised not to aid the rebels cnow declared' of the other,
and a secret article named Charles II and certain prominent
royalists, who were to be expelled from France, and agents of
Gonde and of the rebels at Bordeaux, who were to be expelled
from England.1 For his part Charles II signed a treaty with
Spain (April 1656) by which he was promised the assistance
of a Spanish army to aid in his restoration and he himself
agreed to the retrocession of Jamaica and to the exclusion of
his subjects from the mainland and the islands in the West
Indies.2
The war at sea opened auspiciously for England, with
Stayner's interception off Cadiz of a treasure fleet from the
Spanish Main. The galleons were nearly destroyed, and the loss
of specie was enormous, but the English government profited
to the tune of only about £240,000, although the captors are
said to have plundered thrice as much.3 This success was fol-
lowed by one of permanent importance in the development of
naval strategy. For the first time in history a blockade was
maintained (by Blake) of the Spanish coast throughout the
winter of 1656-7. This striking innovation was rewarded when
news reached Blake that a second treasure fleet was in the
Canaries. On 20 April he destroyed the galleons and silenced
the batteries ashore. No prizes were taken, for Blake feared
they would hamper his retreat from the Bay of Santa Cruz, and
the bullion had been landed and carried into the interior before
the action began. Nevertheless the destruction of all the gal-
leons gave England undisputed supremacy at sea and left the
precious metals stranded as inaccessibly as if they had remained
on the other side of the Atlantic. Blake died on the voyage
home, within sight of Plymouth, but the fruit of his great
victories survived him. The loss of two treasure fleets fatally
crippled Spain, for one of her armies, assembled for the con-
quest of Portugal with every prospect of success, melted away
for want of pay, while the other, in Flanders, was left similarly
destitute to face a new combination of allies. By a treaty
of 13 March 1657 England and France agreed to make a
joint attack upon Gravelines, Mardyke, and Dunkirk by
1 Gardiner, Commonwealth and Protectorate, iv. 192. z Ibid., p. 234.
3 Firth, Last Tears of the Protectorate, i, 50-7.